


Root Cause

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Prompt Fics [71]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Comfort, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24091051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Mac is taking a failed mission to heart, and Jack is there to give him comfort.
Relationships: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: Prompt Fics [71]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540795
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	Root Cause

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CicciTheDreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CicciTheDreamer/gifts).



> from the prompt, "everybody wanted to give up on me, except you."

It’s not often that a mission is “failed,” not with the strongest, most dedicated team of operatives that Jack has ever known, only rivaling the cohesiveness of his Delta Squad.

Though perhaps it was because the _entire_ team wasn’t on this mission. 

In fact, it was a solo mission.

Mac’s mission. 

While that wasn’t the mission that failed, it was most definitely the root cause.

The rest of the Phoenix operatives had been spread thin, it should have been a quick in and out, one and done job, before he would then join Jack and Riley on their op, as today seemed to be a day where _everybody_ had a bomb that needed to be diffused, and as smart and capable as they were, it was a bomb that needed Mac’s set of hands.

He didn’t crack under pressure, ever. He couldn’t. It was a life or death situation and he couldn’t afford to cut the wrong wire. Couldn’t have shaky hands. Couldn’t let the pressure get to him. 

Then again, if he did, it wouldn’t matter. It’d all be over. Just. Like. That. 

But if he did, it was the highest rush he could ever get, the very definition of _relief._

He would usually burn off the energy of his post-mission high with a run, or an intense workout, or working on his bike, or some other DIY project, or…other activities…with Jack. 

And while “other activities” didn’t usually involve disarming a bomb, perhaps it was that rush that had made him so…prideful. Arrogant, even. It was his attitude that made the mission a bust. He was so blinded by his success with the last bomb that he foolishly thought he could replicate it with this one. 

Suffice it to say, he was wrong.

And eerily enough, the bombs had been almost _exactly_ the same, a connection he wouldn’t realize until he was on the plane, and not only that, they were manufactured by the same bomb-maker, the only bomb-maker that could get under his skin enough to make everybody–well, almost everybody–turn their backs as he scrambled to find a way to disarm the secret bomb 

The Ghost, who knew as well as Mac did, _exactly_ how long it would take Mac to disarm the bomb.

Which is why he had added a second one set to go off in half the time.

“Guys, we gotta jet, literally, exfil’s popping like a kernel on a stove top,” Riley’s voice crackled in Jack and Mac’s ears. 

“Ri, while I appreciate your choice of simlee–”

“Simile,” Mac corrected.

“Whatever–our boy here just needs a couple more seconds–” Mac’s eyes widened, his nostrils flared, “–Okay, minutes, so you’re just gonna have to tell them to simmer for a little bit longer, kay, sweetie?”

“There _isn’t_ any time, Jack. It’s a lost cause, Blondie. Just get out of there.”

“No, I’m not giving up, Matty!” Mac snapped, and the distraction was enough for him to realize just how _angry_ he was, that his fingers were vibrating

“Mac, c’mon, man!” Bozer pleaded over the comms. “I don’t want to see you come home in a pile of ash.”

“This isn’t a suggestion, this is an _order,_ Mac. Jack?”

“On it, boss lady,” Jack had nodded as he wordlessly carried Mac out of the room, flailing and shouting for Jack to let him go, let him end it once and for all.

Part of him was selfishly grateful that Jack didn’t listen. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Mac,” Jack echoes a sentiment from their last encounter with the terrorist when they settle in on the jet, flying out of the cloud of the inevitable explosion that still rings so loud through Mac’s ears that he feels like they’re bleeding. He cups his hands over his ears, and they’re dry, so his fingers climb up through his hair and pull instead.

“I could have done it. I just…I just needed time,” he huffs. 

“I know,” Jack nods quietly. He leans forward, places a hand on Mac’s knee. 

“A-and Matty didn’t think I could…Even Riley and Bozer…”

“They know you could have,” Jack waves. “Just like I know you could have done it. I was watching you do it.”

“Yeah, before you literally dragged me away, kicking and screaming.”

Jack chuckles.

“It’s not funny! That was so…embarrassing.”

“Hey, man, feeling such intense emotion like that? Better than nothing at all. You were riding high and just flew a little too close to the sun. Happens to the best of us.”

“It doesn’t happen to me,” Mac mumbles, staring at the pillowing smoke outside the window.

Jack waves his tongue over his lips before he gets up from his seat, closes the shudder to the window, and moves to the seat next to Mac.

“Remember Instanbul?” 

“Instanbul? Oh, that day where your gun wasn’t ‘functioning’ right and you kept missing every target, letting the bad guys get away?”

“Yup, my aim was just as bad as a Stormtrooper that day. Matty gave me a helluva an earful, Riley wouldn’t let me hear the end of it and I never told anybody but it did…damage my pride a little. But that’s not the point, the point is…Everyone wanted to give up on me, except you,” Jack tells him. “Because you knew then, just like I know now, that on our worst days, when _everything_ is going wrong, all you need is someone there to tell you…though it kinda feels like it…”

Jack reaches for Mac’s hand, tangles it with one of his own hands while he brings the other to his cheek, using his thumb to brush the tear that was streaking down Mac’s face. 

“It’s not the end of the world. You’re only human, Mac.”

“That might be so, but I can’t make mistakes–”

“Yes–hey, look at me–Yes, you can. I make mistakes all the time, it’s how you learn to move on.”

“Maybe that’s my problem. Don’t know how,” Mac smiles through his teary eyes.

“Well, here, let’s get you used to it. Make another mistake right now.” 

“What?” 

Jack’s hand moves behind Mac’s head, pulling him in for a meeting of their lips, touching of their tongues. Their ears burn, knowing that Riley is sitting just a few feet away, watching them, and to this point, their relationship had been a well kept secret–if it was _that_ type of relationship at all, as Jack had been worrying that Mac was just using him as some sort of release of endorphins, but the passion behind his movement as he loosened his shoulders, cupped Jack’s face in his hands told him otherwise.

“I…wouldn’t call that a mistake,” Mac tells him breathlessly once they finally break away. “But…if you wanna make another one…we could…take this to the bathroom.”

“Glad to see that brain of yours is still thinking clearly, hoss,” Jack grins. 


End file.
